The 37th Unit Moves Up

It was easy to forget when Deon was surrounded by shamans on Jing Mountain, but the bulk of the soldiers in this war were actually mortals fighting around the mountain base. These armies numbered in the tens of thousands and relied on their numbers to produce exceptional overall power.

Mortals weren't suited to the conditions higher up the mountain, so they remained lower down, mostly fighting on the flat lands around the mountain base. Some were also stationed on the mountain base itself, going up as far as one third the way up the mountain. Having a large quantity of troops around these regions allowed vast areas of land to be occupied securely.

The mortals fighting at the lower areas of the mountain were elites amongst mortal soldiers, they were always led by shaman captains and commanders. This was the 'elite battalion', a battalion of elite mortals soldiers and shaman leaders. It formed a surprisingly effective army when taking their sheer numbers into account.

And now, all of these troops were being shifted.

Even though they needed to leave their current camps to climb further up the mountain, the kingdom couldn't risk leaving any of the established camps unguarded along the South side of the mountain, and to a lesser extent the West side. Therefore, the elite battalion would send their men up the mountain to occupy the camps as high as half way up the mountain.

As for camps like the 37th unit which were stationed well above the half way point and nearing the upper region, they would become occupied by those shamans migrating from lower down the mountain, as the men from the elite battalion in turn filled their camps.

Everyone was moving up slightly, which of course meant that some areas would be left without adequate defences, making them more vulnerable to enemy attacks. However, since the Fan and the Restari had the same idea and nobody would be focussing on the less valuable lower mountain regions anyway, it didn't matter much.

The mortal soldiers around the flat lands would become more thinly distributed compared to before, but their massive numbers to begin with made it such that this change wasn't too obvious.

These days, more people were being drawn into the military after falling victim to the kingdom's war propaganda, which promised them glory and respect. Others were being reassigned to the mountain war troop from their original positions in the South East of the kingdom in the South East war troop.

It wasn't half a day later that the 51st unit arrived to take the 37th unit's place. The commander of the 51st unit was clearly irritated though, which was understandable. Even Commander Reana sympathised with the man and didn't mind his attitude.

After all, the 1st through to the 50th units would be storming into the upper region, whilst everyone else was forced to maintain the camps further down the mountain whilst twirling their thumbs. Being in the 51st unit and just about missing out on the most exciting action was probably quite frustrating.

The 37th unit didn't hang around for long and promptly set off towards the upper region, the zone that was once deemed too difficult for entire units to traverse.

Deon looked across at the 37th unit which was now operating at 500 men strong, the maximum size for a unit led by a commander. Reana saw his uncertainty and made her way across to his side swiftly.

"Vice commander, you've been to the upper region and spent more time there than almost anyone else…what do you think?" She asked quietly.

"I think that travelling with a group like this is impossible in that place. The terrain consists entirely of steep hills, cliff faces, random thick forests on hill sides, small lakes…the largest area of actual flat ground I encountered was probably 200 by 100 feet…at most." Deon gave his honest assessment.

"As expected, it's impossible for a unit to operate properly in the upper region." The commander didn't seem surprised and nodded.

Everything was cleared up when they reached the encirclement. They had arrived at the 1st unit camp, to think Deon would end up returning to this place so soon! After looking around, Deon saw that his tent was still here, it seemed that nobody had even touched it. Well, he did leave quite few precious crates worth of resources in there, so he supposed that nobody was permitted to enter.

Anyway, Deon once again found himself face to face with General Li.

"We meet again, Vice Commander Deon." The big man laughed. He seemed genuinely happy to see Deon.

"Indeed, general…" Deon nodded, then glanced around at the many newly arrived units and frowned.

"General, what exactly is the plan? Travelling as a full unit is impossible in that place…will the units be broken down into smaller teams?"

"Smart." The general praised honestly. "Right, that's more or less the plan. The exploration of the upper region will play out similarly to the occupancy of the lower mountain, only on a smaller scale and with more camps."

Deon nodded slowly as he considered this plan. He wasn't exactly an expert when it came to military strategy, especially not when the battle would be on such a grand scale…but then again, was anyone from either of the two warring kingdoms actually qualified to plan this war? It's not like any of them had ever been involved with a massive war taking place on the peak of a mountain before now, so Deon somewhat doubted that anyone actually knew what they were doing here.

These reputed military figures grew old, had some success over their careers, and gained a reputation that led to people trusting in their vision…but really, they were probably just making it up as they went along whilst pretending to know what they were doing.

Such a thought could probably be considered treason against the kingdom, so Deon didn't voice his doubts out loud. In all honesty, the outcome of the overall war wasn't as important to him as the various battles and opportunities that presented themselves along the way.

Right now, he just needed a chance to kill. To kill, then kill again, and then kill some more. He would continue killing without hesitation until the day that his ancient demon spirit finally ascended to 2-Star, bringing Deon's origin soul beyond its current limits and pushing him into the realm of a 2-Star shaman.

Compared to any resources, honour, titles, prestige or position, simply being able to kill to his heart's content was more important than anything else!

Resources were merely materials used in the refinement of spirits, but even spirits were just tools to showcase his core strength. As for reputation, position and honour? Haha, those things were even less necessary! They were all simply tools to be used in order to reach his goal. And as for the tools themselves? They could be discarded without a second thought if there was any benefit in doing so!

"Ahem." Deon was distracted from his casual musings as General Li took to the stage. Deon had never seen this stage in the 1st unit camp before, making him wonder if they really built a whole stage just so the general could give his speech whilst standing above everyone.

"It would appear that everyone to be involved in the first wave of the kingdom's assault against the upper region is now present." He began.

"The 1st unit will remain in this camp, acting as a central base for anyone's needs, be it healing, resources, man power, or anything else. All other units present, that is the 9th unit, the 14th unit, the 19th unit, the 28th unit, the 37th unit and the 43rd unit, will all embark into the upper region and begin the Kingdom of Restari's occupancy of this treasure trove."

He paused for a minute to let everything sink in, then continued before anyone could ask useless questions.

"The upper region is unlike the lower mountain, it is an inhospitable environment with tough terrain, making it near impossible to traverse even the mildest areas with groups larger than 50. For this reason, all units will be split up into 5 teams of 50 and 10 teams of 25. Each team must be led by a peak stage 1-Star shaman. Captains and commanders will preferably lead the larger groups, other excellent soldiers will be given full authority and responsibility over 25 men on a temporary basis."

This cleared up most of the questions that the commanders had been holding in until now. They relaxed slightly on learning that upper command did indeed plan for the terrain properly…although, this was still a hastily created battle plan.

"Naturally, the areas that you are to occupy have been mapped out after surveying the landscape and assessing each unit. Each unit has been assigned 15 zones that they must take as their own, it is expected that campsites are erected at each of these locations. Larger groups will be sent to larger, more easily accessible areas. Smaller groups will be sent higher up the mountain to occupy the smaller areas. A map has been laid out for each unit, marking these locations clearly. Commanders, you have one hour to organise your forces."

With that, General Li stepped down from the stage and took no further questions. He had explained the plan in its entirety, there was nothing else to say for now.

Commander Reana grabbed the map roughly and brought it across to Deon and the other captains. Now that her unit had reached 500 men, she was also forced to take on 4 more captains, each in charge of 50 soldiers. Deon hadn't been around recently, so he wasn't included in this reorganisation…until now, of course. Once they set off into the upper region, he would naturally be leading his own team consisting of the recruits he trained personally months earlier!

"Vice Commander Deon, please share your thoughts." Commander Reana directly differed to Deon, a sensible decision given his expertise in exploring these lands.

He quickly glanced across the map and took in the various locations. Most of them seemed fine enough, but there were 3 that made him frown.

"These 3 will be problematic. These 2 are difficult to reach…really difficult, even for an individual, not to mention an entire group. This last one…did they really not consider that?"